Bulletproof
by LunarRose73
Summary: After being dumped creuly by her boyfriend, a mafia boss, Nina vows revenge, traveling to Japan to plot, she doesn't expect to find what she's running from there.
1. Chapter 1

"Luca!" The girl with the brown hair exclaimed happily as she ran up the one in question. He turned to look in a way that seemed to show annoyance. He was a few years older than she was and stood in the middle of a group of men in suits.

"Luca, I was looking all over for you. I thought that you might like to come over to my house for dinner to celebrate. I mean it's almost been six months now and I thought we could celebrate a bit early."

"Nina, I'm busy right now, but I'll try to come over later. So until then." He gave her a small peck on the cheek.

"Ok, I'll make sure to make your favorite, till then." Nina waved as she ran off to go to the store with a smile on her face.

"You're really lucky to have a girl like that." Of the men standing around Luca said giving him a nod of approval.

"Yeah, sure." Luca said shoving his comment to the side. He felt angry at the sight of her smile and the way she was so excited. It seemed stupid to be so happy, he thought.

Nina hummed a tune as she finished setting the small table up. She was extremely delighted to finally be able to spend sometime with Luca. She hadn't seen him in a few which had felt like years to her. The thought of her and Luca made Nina dance around the room as she lit some candles.

She had met Luca almost seven months ago and it didn't take him too long to finally ask her out. She had originally come to Italy to study for only a short time, but had found away to extend her stay so she could be closer to Luca.

Luca had recently been made the boss of the mafia, or at least the head of his family, when he first met her, but that didn't keep her away. She knew it was crazy but she swore that she had felt an attraction to him the first time she saw him, almost like she was being pulled towards him. When she thought about it, it sounded romantic to her and she got giddy just thinking about it.

The sun had set over the Italian horizon a while ago and the food had gotten cold. Nina sat at the table and looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine, far past the time Luca should have arrived. Nina had already sat for a while waiting, watched TV, paced, and then ended back at the table.

Nina was now extremely worried. Could something have happened to Luca on his way over? She wasn't sure, and she couldn't handle waiting for him any longer. She got up and threw on a coat and a fashionable scarf, and was out the door.

She walked the way from her house to his twice and then went to look around the rest of the city. She spent a few hours running back and forth all over, trying to think of every single place he could be. But she was unable to find him at all.

Nina sat down at a café that was still open and ordered a drink. She then realized she should try calling his cell phone. Nina cursed herself for not being so adapted to technology; she should have done that in the first place.

She pulled out her own phone, which showed no missed calls or messages. She then quickly dialed his number and waited a few moments while the call connected. As soon as she heard the ringing on the phone, she noticed that someone else's phone had rung at the same time. She listened closer the next time it rang and realized that it was Luca's phone.

She spun around to see Luca sitting with another girl at a nearby table that was hidden by a small tree. She stared at him unable to process what she was seeing. He looked the phone with a quick glance then hit ignore.

"Who's that?" the girl asked him, she had long blonde hair that was perfectly curled and wore an amazing outfit that Nina knew she could never pull off. Nina could only think of one word to sum up the girl at first glance; stunning.

"It's just the some annoying girl, she thinks I'm her boyfriend and is too stupid to realize she means nothing to me. She's not you, and you mean the world to me." He said leaning closer to kiss the other girl.

Nina had heard the line about meaning the world before, six months ago, and then when he convinced her to stay in Italy a bit longer. Oh yes, she had heard that line a few times before.

Before she was able to register was she was doing she had already threw a chair at the table they sat at, causing many of the people to in the area to scream and run out of the way. She stalked towards the two, Luca had fallen to the floor while the girl had shrieked and ran behind the tree, trying to hide.

"Nina!?" Luca gasped in surprised horror. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, I thought we had made plans for dinner, but I guess I was wrong in thinking you were in trouble when you didn't show up or call." Nina said as she approached him slowly, like a feral cat hunting its prey.

"I can see now that you don't need any help, but I guess I didn't realize this at first because I'm too stupid to realize I mean nothing to you. When I chose to stay in Italy with you I thought it was because I meant something to you. All those times we spent together, I thought those meant something. But do forgive me for my complete stupidity." Nina yelled the last part as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Saying the words somehow made it feel worse than before, as if they suddenly made everything she said entirely true, as if she really wasn't worth anything. She felt so many different emotions running through her that she didn't know which one fit the moment. Should she be completely sad, angry, revengeful, hopeless, lost? She couldn't pick with one to stick with.

She picked up another chair and threw it at Luca. He braced himself as the chair hit him. Nina then let out a cry that was hollow and sounded more like a howl than anything human. She hurdled herself at Luca and tried to punch him and scratch out his eyes, but he simply threw her off of him.

He then got up and pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. She went to get up but had twisted her ankle when she attempted to. She looked up at him with an intense glare, her face a complete mess.

"You're right. You don't mean a thing to me. All of those things you talked about are long gone, my dear. I'm a mafia boss now, I don't need you anymore. I can do better than you." He spat the last part. "Now, Arreviderci, my dear"

BAM


	2. Chapter 2

Nina loved how unfamiliar Japan felt to her. There was nothing to remind her of time in Italy. She was free to finally enjoy herself as she now studied in a small city called Namimori. Nina smiled to herself as she walked through the airport.

Nina had woken to find herself in the hospital after being shot. She was told she had been lucky that the bullet had missed any major arteries and other vitals. But she knew that she hadn't been lucky at all, the only reason that the bullet hadn't hit any major arteries was because Luca had a crappy aim.

Nina then spent a few weeks recovering in which she hastily made plans to leave the country to the farthest place she could think of, Japan. The day she was released was the day that she boarded the plane, much to the doctors' dismay.

This time Nina knew that she wouldn't let anything like before happen. No mafia, no conflicts, and definitely no boyfriends. Nina had decided to stay with a host family this time so that she didn't have to worry about getting distracted. She was here to study and start life over again, or so she had told everyone.

The fact was Nina wasn't going to let this go as easily as she had hoped. She planned on revenge. And revenge was what she was going to get.

Nina found her host father, Kenji Akamida, at the baggage claim and greeted him with a bow. He then drove her to his house where she met his wife, Tama, and their young child, Kenta who was only a year old. She greeted Nina with a hug and they all had dinner together.

Nina felt slightly uncomfortable when the two had given her those pitying looks. They had been informed of her situation, though they only knew that she had been shot while out one night. Nina decided to try and break the weird atmosphere by talking.

She was able to successfully able to dissipate the odd atmosphere by telling them how excited she was to be there. She told them that she hoped she would be able to make many new friends, even if she messed up speaking a lot.

"Oh, before I forget to mention, I invited some of the neighbors over for a small picnic tomorrow so that they could meet you." Mrs. Akamida said.

"That should be nice." Nina smiled. It was fake, but only she knew that. They hadn't seen her real smile before, but that only made it easier for her. She didn't think she'd ever be able to smile truly again until after she obtained her goal.

After dinner Nina went to bed, too tired to try to unpack. The next day she would worry about plotting and meeting other people, though she promised herself she wouldn't let any of them become close to her. Better safe than sorry.

The next day was rather boring to Nina, she spent most of it getting accustomed to her new life. She had unpacked her bags and arranged her room to something homier. She then went shopping with Mrs. Akamida and Kenta.

The market place was similar yet different. Nina wasn't sure how to regard it. She felt old memories stirring within her. She quickly diverted her attention to the present so that she didn't have to think about such things.

Before she knew it evening had come and there were plenty of people outside in the yard of the house to keep Nina's mind preoccupied. She was having difficulty remembering everyone and felt rather lost, most of the people there were either older than her by a lot, or young children.

"Ah, Nina, come over here." Mrs. Akamida said beaconing her over. "This is the Sawada family, Tsunayoshi here is roughly around your age. They live next door." She said with a smile.

Nina gave a smile and bowed. "It's very nice to meet you."

The boy who was presumably Tsunayoshi scratched his head, "Yeah it's nice to meet you too."

"You two seem to be getting along" Mrs. Sawada said smiling happily, "Here Tsuna, why don't you look after Reborn, Lambo, and I-pin while I go talk with Tama."

Nina looked to see the three children that were mentioned before. "Are these your siblings Tsunayoshi-san?" Nina asked crouching down to look at them better. One was dressed in a suit, the other as a cow, and the last looked Chinese.

"They're not my siblings!" He exclaimed. "Oh, and you can call me Tsuna, all my friends do."

"Oh, well then Tsuna, I'm Nina, and I hope I'm able to become one of your friends too." Nina said with her fake grin that she was becoming used to wearing.

Nina didn't get to talk to Tsuna much after that since he spent the rest of the party running after Lambo, the boy dressed like a cow, and I-pin, the Chinese girl. But Nina didn't mind, she didn't feel like exerting more energy in trying to follow conversations.

That night Nina woke with a start. She had sworn she had heard a gunshot, but she pushed the idea out of her mind. It must have just been in her dream.

**I hope everyone is enjoying this so far though there appears to be relatively few characters from KHR so far, but that will change soon. ****I NEED SOME FEEDBACK! ****I'm not sure if she should be older than everyone, or if she should be in middle school with them. I'm thinking she'll be in middle school with them. I plan to have her fall in love again, much against her will, but I don't know with whom. This is pretty much the first story in which I know almost nothing about what I plan to have happen; maybe this will be the one I finally finish. Well till next time, enjoy.**


	3. Chapter 3

Nina felt nervous as she walked to the school the next morning with her host mother. She had already been registered with Namimori middle school earlier that week, but she didn't feel certain about actually finding the school her first time. Her host mother was happy to walk with Nina to the school, which Nina felt was probably due to her "accident".

The school is enormous, Nina thought as she spotted it for the first time. She stopped to take in the full sight of the school. She couldn't remember any school she had seen or been too that had ever looked like this before. Mrs. Akamida noticed that Nina had stopped and mistook it for fear.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that you'll like the school very much. You're sure to make lots of new friends." Mrs. Akamida said as she shifted Kenta in her arms.

"I do hope so." Nina smiled, she didn't really have a need for friends, but if she pretended that she did then she wouldn't have to worry about her host family bothering her. Nina knew how to act to keep others from guessing her true motives.

Nina went to the school's office and was directed to her classroom. Nina waited outside of the room until the teacher called her inside and introduced her to the class.

"Everyone, this is Nina. She's a foreign exchange student who will be spending the next year with us, so please make her feel welcomed." The teacher informed the class and Nina gave a small bow to everyone.

"There's a seat in the back that you can take." The teach said pointing to desk that Nina noticed was little ways behind Tsuna. Nina didn't expect to see him in her class, but then again, she figured, he was around her own age, so it should have been no surprise.

"Tsuna it is very nice to see that you are in my class, at least I will know one person." Nina said with a smile while corking her head to the side.

"How dare you speak to Juudaime so casually? Who do you think you are?" the boy sitting next to Tsuna exclaimed.

Nina looked over to him confused. He had silver hair and had a stick hanging out of his mouth. He looked like the classic bad-boy type.

"I'm sorry, what is a Juudaime?" Nina asked not recognizing the word.

"Wha!" the boy said standing up from his desk quickly. "Why you-" He started to say but was cut off by the boy behind Tsuna.

"Ma, ma calm down Gokudera she's foreign, remember?" the boy with the black short hair and the smile said. He turned to face Nina, "What language do you normally speak?" he asked her kindly.

Nina thought for a moment, she had become accustomed to speaking Italian, but didn't want to let them know that. She had come to Japan to avoid all things Italian. She didn't really know how to answer the question though, since she had always spoken more than one language.

"Well, I guess that would be English." Nina said finally. She felt that it would be the safest choice for the moment.

"Oh, well Juudaime means 'tenth'," the boy explained to her. "I am Takashi Yamamoto. And he is Hayato Gokudera. Nice to meet you."

"Hey I can introduce myself!" Gokudera yelled at the still smiling boy.

"I am Nina, I am pleased to meet you too." Nina said and then left to take her seat.

When lunchtime came Nina felt a bit uncomfortable. Her host mother had made her a bento, but she wasn't used to using chopsticks. She stared at the box of food that had been made for her. She wasn't quite sure what to do.

"You're Nina, correct? I'm Kyoko Sasagawa, and this is my friend Hana Korukawa. It's nice to meet you." A girl with shorter brown hair introduced herself along with her friend who had long black hair and a rather cold stare.

"Yes, I am Nina. Nice to meet you." Nina said giving her smile again.

"Would you like to eat lunch with us?" Kyoko asked. Nina felt relieved at the offer, though she realized that she shouldn't, for it meant that she was happy about having company, and company led to relationships, which she had promised herself that she wouldn't have here. She had her mission to think about, though she had put no thought to it since she had arrived in Japan.

"That would be nice, thank you." Nina replied. She knew that even though she couldn't allow anyone to get close to her she had to act friendly. There is a way to act friendly, yet keep everyone at a distance, Nina reminded herself. She just couldn't allow herself to actually welcome other people into her life.

"So what do you have to eat for lunch?" Kyoko asked as she and Hana sat down at Nina's desk.

"I don't really know. I'm not familiar with the foods here yet." Nina said giving a sheepish smile as well as a shrug of the shoulders. She showed the two her bento and Kyoko went on to explain what everything was as well as teaching Nina how to properly use chopsticks.

"Tsuna! I don't have practice today, so how about I come over to your house and we can work on the homework together." Yamamoto exclaimed as he walked over to Tsuna at the end of the day.

"Uh, sure sounds good. I didn't really understand the lesson today." Tsuna said as he scratched his head.

"If he's coming over then so am I. I'm the boss's right-hand man." Gokudera said giving Yamamoto a glare, though Yamamoto only laughed at it.

"Ok, ok you can both come over." Tsuna said trying to clam Gokudera down. Tsuna looked over and spotted Kyoko and Nina talking together.

"Tsuna, you should walk Nina home. She's new and it's the chivalrous thing to do." Reborn said popping out of nowhere, causing Tsuna to jump in surprise, though he thought he should be used to it by now.

"What? I can't do that. I can't even ask Kyoko to walk home, let alone some girl I don't know very well." Tsuna whined to him.

"Dame-Tsuna, do it or else I'll kill you." Reborn said pointing a gun as Tsuna.

"Na, Na I'll do it!" Tsuna said putting his hands up and waving them as he took a few steps away from Reborn. He then turned around and let out a sigh and walked over to the two girls.

"H-hey, Nina did you want to walk home with us? I know it's your first day and I thought you might not remember the way home." Tsuna started to mumble the last part, he felt pathetic saying he assumed she couldn't go home on her own. He hoped that Kyoko wouldn't get the wrong idea.

"That would be very nice, thank you. Kyoko is coming home with me too to help me with the homework. Is she allowed to walk with us too?" Nina asked giving her smile again.

"Of course!" Tsuna exclaimed with joy. He might not be able to walk with her alone but at least he could walk with her. Nina laughed at his reaction and Kyoko smiled oblivious to how happy Tsuna was.

The three of them walked outside where they met up with Gokudera and Yamamoto. Yamamoto smiled and waved hi to them as they approached, but Gokudera glared at them.

"What are they doing here?" he demanded.

"They're going to walk home with us of course." Yamamoto stated what was already known.

"I know that! But why? We don't need their help."

"Nina lives next door to me, and Kyoko's going over to help Nina with the homework." Tsuna said.

"Hey, why don't they come over to your house Tsuna? It could be a homework party." Yamamoto said smiling.

"What? Who's ever heard of a homework party? That's a stupid idea." Gokudera yelled. Nina laughed at the way a homework party sounded. It didn't make sense to her.

Tsuna thought about it for a moment but before he could reply he was interrupted by a kid with short white hair and a bandage across the bridge of his nose.

"Tsuna! Are you ready for the extreme? Are you going to join the boxing club today?" the boy who looked to be a bit older than them shouted as he ran up to them. He came up to Tsuna and threw his arm over Tsuna's shoulder. A large sweat drop appeared on Tsuna's head.

"Brother, I asked you not to bug Tsuna any more if he doesn't want to join." Kyoko said walking up to the boy.

"Oh, Kyoko, what are you doing?" the boy asked.

"I'm going over to Tsuna's with Nina to do our homework."

"Nina, who's Nina?" the boy asked removing his arm from choking Tsuna.

"Hello, I'm Nina." Nina said stepping forward and offering her hand to shake, but then remembered that they bow in Japan, so instead gave a small bow.

"Hi! I'm Ryohei Sasagawa, I'm the captain of the boxing club and my moto's 'to the extreme'!" the boy said excitedly and punched a fist into the air. Nina could tell he was rather passionate about things.

"Nice to meet you." Nina responded.

"Well, I've got club activities to do today, so I'll see you at home Kyoko. Bye!" Ryohei said and waved as he ran off.

After that the five of the students walked to Tsuna's house were they all crowded into his room. Mrs. Sawada was a nice lady who was very happy to see everyone was over. Gokudera had spent most of the time trying to teach Tsuna and Yamamoto what they had learned in class while Kyoko helped Nina catch up with what they had been learning.

Everything seemed chaotic with Gokudera getting upset at different times, and Tsuna trying to calm him down while Yamamoto simply laughed and made light of everything. Kyoko and Nina sat on the floor at the table laughing at the boys' comedic actions. Everything seems so fun here, these people are so friendly and funny, Nina thought.

But as soon as she realized this, she remembered that this wasn't the reason she came to Japan. She couldn't let herself be accepted by these people as a friend, nor could she truly except them as friends. She hadn't even been there more than 2 days and she was already losing focus.

This was too dangerous. Being around these people and hanging out with them as if she were their friend. It couldn't be allowed. She had to leave before she started to feel any connections to them.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Nina said standing up suddenly.

"So soon?" Yamamoto asked, his smile falling a bit.

"I'm sorry. I, I forgot I have to be home early today. I never told my host family I was coming over here and I don't want them to worry. So I have to go." Nina said as she quickly grabbed her belongings. "Thank you for having me, goodbye." Nina hastily added as she left the room and ran out the door.

"What was that all about?" Gokudera snidely remarked, upset at the way she disregarded the Juudaime's hospitality.

"She seemed worried about something. Maybe she's not used to being around so many people." Tsuna said more to himself than anything else. No one spoke further about it, but instead continued to work on their homework.

**I figure Nina's going to fall in love with someone, but I don't know who she should fall in love with. So I need your help. Let me know who you think she should fall in love with. I'll have a poll on my profile page so if you go there, please vote. It will greatly help me. And again any feedback about what you honestly think about the story is welcome, if you like it tell me what makes you like it, if you hate it, tell me what you don't like. Please and Thank you to all those who have told me what they think about it.**


	4. Chapter 4

Nina had spent most of the night thinking of various ways to get revenge. She didn't know whether she should simply kill Luca or if she should do something a little more thought out, a little more torturous. Should she enact some sort of well thought out plan that would eventually drive Luca crazy? Would it be worth the effort?

She then began to think of whether it was justified. Maybe she was the one who was at fault. No, what happened wasn't due to anything she had done. She wanted to believe this, but felt a shadow of doubt in the back of her mind. She tried to think of what had happened to cause the events to unfold as they did.

What if she hadn't looked for him, would he still have shot her? Would he still have dumped her at some point, or would he have kept her on the side incase something went wrong with the other girl?

Nina rolled over onto her back frustrated at the thoughts that were keeping her awake. She didn't want to think about these things, she only wanted to get her revenge.

She tried to regain her train of thought by remembering that last night. As she thought about it she involuntarily touched the scar left by the bullet, and then she remembered what Luca had said.

"_I'm a mafia boss now, I don't need you anymore."_

She realized now that it wasn't only Luca she had to get, but also the entire Mafia somehow. Yes, she thought, they both must be taken down. It's the only way.

But how do you take down an entire organization that you only know a little about? She thought about it, and speculated, but in the end was taken over by sleep without an idea.

The next day in school Nina didn't pay much attention as she continued to think over what she should do. She wasn't listening when Kyoko invited her to lunch with Tsuna and everyone on the rooftop. They didn't know what to do, so they left without her.

Once they left though she got up out of her desk and walked around the school still thinking. She was oblivious to everything that was around her. She didn't think anything when she ran into one of the school's disciplinary committee, but instead gave a wave of her hand brushing aside the boy's demands.

She continued to walk even after the bell signifying the end of lunch rang. She was still oblivious to everything around her, but for some reason she was brought back to the present when she heard a voice speak behind her.

"Skipping class is not allowed." The person said in a frightening way, but Nina who was just coming to awareness simply turned around to look at the person who had spoke without any sign of emotion on her face but slight confusion.

The boy who had spoken had black hair and a no-nonsense attitude about him. He wore the school uniform with a perfect's badge on his left arm, though Nina wasn't aware of what this truly meant.

She didn't reply to him, nor did she give any sign besides looking at him to show that she had heard him and understood.

"If you do not go back to class, then I will bite you to death." He said in response to her silence. He pulled out a pair of tonfa and waited a moment. Then when Nina didn't do anything he began to run at her.

"Hibari, wait!" Tsuna shouted as he appeared running between Nina and Hibari. Hibari stopped for a moment.

"Why are you interfering? She's skipping class." he asked Tsuna, upset at being disrupted.

"She's new here, and is probably just lost." Tsuna explained, but his explanation wasn't good enough for Hibari who continued to proceed forward till he spotted Reborn.

"Ciaoso, Hibari," Reborn greeted him. Nina looked at Reborn in confusion, wondering what a small child was doing at the middle school.

"Good evening, Baby" Hibari replied, putting his tonfa away and diverting his attention to the baby.

"Tsuna, you and Nina should go back to class," Reborn said.

"Uh, yeah, sure thing." Tsuna replied, he felt it wouldn't be a good time to question Reborn. He turned towards Nina, "Come on, class has already begun." And he left with Nina who followed him back to the classroom.

"Hibari, I'm not completely sure what that girl's reason for being here is, but I fear it may not be for the best of the family. I want you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious she may do." Reborn told Hibari as he watched the two go back to class.

"Don't worry, I already don't trust her." Hibari replied, then turned and walked away.

"Sheesh! You couldn't have gotten into any worse trouble if you had tried!" Tsuna said slouching his shoulders as they walked out of the school building.

"Who was that?" Nina asked cocking her head to the side.

"Kyoya Hibari, he's the head of the disciplinary committee. He's the meanest person there is!"

"Hibari? Why are you two talking about Hibari?" Kyoko asked as she walked up to them.

"K-kyoko!" Tsuna jumped slightly from surprise. "It's nothing really. Nina just ran into him after lunch."

"Oh, no, what happened? We were worried about you when we came back from lunch and you weren't in the classroom."

"Um, I went to go to the bathroom but got lost on the way back. But I'm alright, Tsuna stopped Hibari from attacking me." Nina told Kyoko, using the excuse that Tsuna had told Hibari. They didn't need to know what she was truly doing, or her story. They were innocent and didn't need to be involved.

"Really? Tsuna you're such a nice guy." Kyoko smiled as she said this. "Well I just wanted to make sure you were feeling ok today Nina. You left last night so suddenly and you seemed out of it today, and I didn't know if you were feeling homesick or something."

"No, no I'm just not used to the time change, and it's starting to effect me more than it did the other day. I'm sorry if I made you worry." Nina said as she gave a grin that was convincing enough for Kyoko.

"Alright then, I'll see you two tomorrow." Kyoko waved as she left.

"I guess it's just you and I walking home today, Yamamoto has practice and who knows where Gokudera is." Tsuna said a little bit awkwardly.

Nina gave him a smile, "That's ok, I don't mind."

The two walked home in silence for the most part. Every once in a while Tsuna asked Nina a question about herself and she would answer, though Tsuna felt that she wasn't opening up and telling him everything. But that wasn't his business he decided.

When they neared their houses the little boy from the party came running out chasing the Chinese girl. He was laughing his weird laugh as did so.

"Lambo! Don't chase I-pin! Come on, you're going to make a mess!" Tsuna shouted at the kids. When he did so Lambo decided he no longer wanted to play with I-pin and instead came running towards Tsuna.

"Tsuna! Let's play a game! Oh, who's that you're girlfriend? She can play too!" Lambo said excitedly.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Tsuna stuttered, afraid what Kyoko would think if she heard Lambo. Tsuna could hear Nina laugh a bit at Lambo's actions. He sighed, "What do you want to play, a videogame or something?"

" I know what game we should play! Let's play mafia! I'll be a hitman and I've got to kill you!" Lambo laughed really loud thinking he had just won some prize for coming up with the best game ever.

Tsuna had a sweatdrop on his head as he heard Lambo's idea for a game. He couldn't believe that Lambo would want to play that. Nina on the other hand stiffened at the mention of mafia. The atmosphere around Nina seemed to visibly darken.

"That sounds like a stupid game, why don't you go play something else, like cops and robbers." Nina said threateningly staring down at the small boy, hate in her eyes.

Lambo became extremely frightened at the sight of the tall girl standing over him, the one who had just told him his most brilliant idea was stupid. He began to cry and ran away as fast as he could. Shortly after he left, Nina turned and walked into her house, leaving Tsuna to stand outside alone.

Tsuna also felt frightened when Nina had yelled at Lambo. Maybe she just doesn't like kids, he thought. But he couldn't help but wondering if it was normal for someone to change so much, she didn't seem to mind him when he first appeared, she had actually laughed at him. But she seemed to changed, he realized, when Lambo mentioned playing mafia.

"Maybe she doesn't like playing violent games like that." Tsuna said to himself, not fully believing it, but he had decided to leave the matter alone.

Nina knew that she had not acted like a normal person would have, but didn't think much about it. The simple mention of the mafia made her angry, she realized. She finally decided that it wasn't just Luca who was her enemy. No, it was all things related to the Mafia. And if she wanted to get revenge she'd have to destroy both the Mafia and Luca. She was determined to.

She walked up to her room and picked up the phone, using a prepaid phone card to place a long distance call. She waited until someone had picked up.

"Hello, Uncle? It's Nina. I need your help. I need you to tell me everything you can about the Mafia."

**Chapter four! Woot! I hope I am able to continue updating like this. Alright, so far there have only been five people who have voted in the poll and I hope more will soon. I plan to close the poll here shortly and begin to start to make things more interesting. I've already introduced almost all of the main characters to the story and hope to start getting more into the romance part of the story shortly. Thank you to all that reviewed, your advice is greatly appreciated. Ok, so please, ****please**** go ****VOTE!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Good morning Tsuna" Nina greeted him the next morning when they met outside on their way to school.

"Uh, Nina, good morning, you seem to be in a better mood today."

"Oh, yes. I am fully rested today. I feel ten times better than I did yesterday." Nina said smiling. Tsuna also smiled not understanding what really made her smile.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto shouted from behind running up to the two. He was smiling like always. "Good morning. Oh Nina, are you walking to school with us too? How fun." He said then laughed.

"Good morning Yamamoto, you seem excited today." Nina said.

"Really? Well I guess I am, I heard we're playing baseball in gym today." Yamamoto gave a rather large goofy grin.

"I haven't played that in a while. Are you any good Yamamoto?"

"Yamamoto's the captain of the baseball clue at school. He's amazing." Tsuna said.

"Tsuna's just being nice." Yamamoto said scratching his head. "He's the one who's really amazing. Right Tsuna, you're really good at sports too" He said smacking Tsuna on the back, causing the boy to stumble forward before he was able to regain his balance.

"Well, I can't wait to see you play, Tsuna."

"No, no it's nothing like he says. I'm terrible at sports. In fact I'm just dame-Tsuna. Don't get your hopes up, trust me." Tsuna said waving his hands about and shaking his head violently side to side. His antics caused both Nina and Yamamoto to laugh.

"You're just being modest." Yamamoto said, then he asked Nina, "Hey Nina, did you want to eat lunch with us today, we were all sad when you didn't come yesterday."

"Oh, well you see, I need to, to research something at lunch." Nina said not looking at them, but rather staring at her hands. "I really appreciate the offer, maybe another day, but this is something I really need to do as soon as I can."

"Oh what are you researching?" Yamamoto asked eagerly.

"Um, just some stuff on doing this study abroad." Nina said thinking up an excuse as fast as she could. "It was part of requirements of the program." She said looking up at the two with a smile.

"Oh, well that's too bad. Sorry we can't really help you, but if you need anything just let us know." Tsuna said.

"Really? That's really nice. Well you see I'm not really familiar with the school yet and I don't know where the library is. So could one of you guys show me the way to the library?"

"Sure thing, Tsuna can do that at lunch." Yamamoto laughed.

"What! What if I can't? You shouldn't volunteer others for things like that." Tsuna yelled as Yamamoto who simply went off ahead of them to the classroom.

"Thank you. That'll make me so happy." Nina said giving him a smile, causing him to forget that he was yelling at Yamamoto for volunteering him.

"Um, yeah sure. I'm glad to be able to help." Tsuna scratched his head as he looked away trying to hide the small blush that was creeping over his face. The two continued off to class.

When it was time for lunch Tsuna showed Nina to the library as promised. She was surprised at how large their library was and couldn't help but need directions to the computers. He helped her find the computers that where in the back and helped her to log into one.

"Do you want me to stay and keep you company?" Tsuna asked as he stood next to her chair, unsure if he should leave her.

"No, no, it's fine if you go have lunch with your friends. I don't want to be a bother. Plus if I'm alone I won't get distracted." Nina smiled her smile, the one that was large and hid her motives. It was her best defense she had decided. Lie and keep others at arm's length, that way they can't hurt you.

"Ok, well don't be late for class. You don't want to run into Hibari again." Tsuna warned her.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm sure I'll find my way back this time. See you later."

"Alright, later." Tsuna said slightly reluctant to leave. He didn't feel that it was such a good idea to leave Nina there alone for some reason. Something in the back of his mind was bugging him, but he ignored whatever it was and went to eat lunch with his friends.

Once Tsuna had left, Nina began to look up information on the mafia. She pulled out a sheet of paper that she had written all of the information her uncle had given her the previous night. Much of the information had not been complete and her uncle couldn't give her much more than some keywords and sites online to search. He had given her one site that he knew held a lot of current information on the mafia, and those who were inside the mafia, though he warned her to be careful of the people around her when she went onto the site. He had told her that it wouldn't be good if the mafia found out he knew about these sites. Though she reminded him she was in Japan, not Italy.

"_Well that's all I can think of right now, if I remember or find out anything else I didn't tell you I'll call." Her uncle said his voice filled with sleep. "Do you want to tell me why you're so interested all of a sudden? Like what actually happened in Italy?" _

_"No, I don't want to talk about it. It would be like admitting defeat if I did that. So I can't, you should know that more than anyone Uncle." Nina said. She knew she couldn't admit defeat now, and also that if her uncle found out what had really happened he'd never forgive her._

Nina was so absorbed inher thoughts that she didn't notice when someone came and sat next to her. The person didn't say anything for a while, only looked at her.

"You have a very difficult task there, don't you?" the boy asked suddenly causing Nina to jump. She stared at the boy with wide eyes. When did he get here? She thought trying to figure out why she hadn't sensed him before.

"Oh, it's just a research for a paper." Nina said composing herself and using the excuse that she had given Tsuna and Yamamoto. The boy with the dark purple hair shaped like a pineapple gave her and all knowing smile. Nina became worried that she had said something she shouldn't have. She knew he shouldn't be able to read the information on the website since it was in a different language.

"I tried to do the same thing as you before. Unfortunately I was unable to succeed." He grined as he said this. Nina looked at him suspiciously, what did he know?

"I wish you the best of luck in succeeding though. Mafioso aren't my favorite people." Nina felt herself jump back unconsciously when he said this. She didn't know whether he was here to threaten her, or if he truly wished she would succeed.

"Who are you?" Nina asked unsure of how to gauge him.

"You may call me Mukuro, it's nice to meet you Nina."

Nina was taken aback by the fact that he knew her name though she had never told him. She didn't feel any immediate danger from him, though she gasped in shock when she saw his eyes, one was red with a number in it while the other was what would be considered normal.

"What do you want with me?" Nina asked, but before she could finish Mukuro interrupted her.

"It seems it is time for me to go. Ciao." He had disappeared suddenly, leaving Nina to wonder if he had simply been a figment of her imagination.

Not two seconds later did Hibari come walking into the library. He had a determined look on his face as he scanned the room. He passed over Nina but quickly looked at her again. He then walked up to her.

Nina had been looking at the spot where Mukuro had just been when she noticed Hibari coming towards her. She turned away from him back to the computer and checked the time. There was still ten minutes left in lunch, so she knew she wasn't late. She decided to ignore him in hopes that he would leave her alone.

"What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be eating lunch with the other herbivores?" Hibari asked coming to stand right behind her.

Nina felt herself stiffen when he spoke. She didn't let him see this reaction and continued to stare at the computer, not answering him. Hibari smirked at her reaction.

"Or maybe you weren't alone? Maybe there was someone here with you." He whispered leaning closer causing the hairs on the back of Nina's neck to stand up. She quickly turned around to face him, giving him a mixed look of annoyance and a glare.

"What do you want with me? I'm not breaking any rules, lunch isn't over yet, and I'm only researching stuff for a paper I have to write. So you have no need to worry about me. Maybe I prefer to be alone, ever think of that?" Nina could feel herself becoming defensive, she was almost ready to stand up and punch him.

Nina wondered why she hadn't done that to Luca, punch him, it would have felt nice. She would have she realized if he hadn't of shot her first.

Hibari smirked again. He felt this girl was different, though he didn't know why. He decided to let the matter go, now wasn't the appropriate time to beat her up. He then took a step back.

"Just make sure that you're not late for class. There won't be anyone to help you this time."

"I didn't ask for any help last time. But just to make you happy I'll leave now." Nina said with slight sarcasm. She then exited the page she was on and turned of the computer. Then she grabbed her belongings and left the library, all the while Hibari watched her though she didn't look at him once.

Nina felt very frustrated as she left the library. She wasn't able to find out much. She was unsure whether the weird boy, Mukuro, was messing with her, or on her side, though she didn't know how he would know what her side was. Then to make matters worse Hibari had appeared and had succeeded in getting under her skin. Nina felt like screaming in frustration, but somehow managed to calm herself down by the time she got back to class.

**Ok, Well I was in such a tight spot trying to figure out who should show up next to Nina. At first I thought it'd be Hibari, but then I remembered that Mukuro hasn't appeared yet. I hope you are finding the story intresting. I'm still not entirely sure where it will go, I've thought of a bunch of different things to do, and pairings I'm so confused as to which I should do, so inorder for me to update like I've been doing please GO VOTE! Only 9 people have, and I know, more than 9 people are reading, I have my ways to find out! Mwhahahah! Uncalled for, but yeah, go vote please, it'll very much help.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Nina, you're back early. Did you finish what you were doing?" Yamamoto asked as when he walked into the classroom with everyone else. He was smiling as usual.

"Not really, I ran into Hibari and had to leave early." Nina told them, not elaborating on how she also met Mukuro there as well.

"What!" Tsuna exclaimed when he heard this, "I was afraid that would happen. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, he seemed to be looking for someone else and just warned me to make sure I wasn't late for class."

"Running into Hibari can be scary, you should try to avoid that I the future." Yamamoto stated with a smile though his face seemed to drop a bit at the beginning. Nina felt a shiver run up her spine, maybe Yamamoto wasn't all smiles. She let the thought go.

"Nina, you need to be careful, you ran into Hibari yesterday too, didn't you?" Kyoko asked with concern in her eyes. Nina felt bad for making Kyoko worry. It didn't seem right to her. Kyoko had only known her for a few days, that shouldn't have been long enough for her to feel like she needed to worry about what Kyoko felt.

"Yea, I'll do my best. I'm not trying to run into him." Nina offered with a smile. No matter how much she told herself not to care about the people here because that would only lead to friendships, she couldn't help but want to relieve Kyoko of her worry.

"Yesterday too? Wow you seem to be attracted to trouble." Yamamoto said laughing. Soon the teacher came and they were forced to focus on the lesson.

"What! Are you walking home with us again?" Gokudera shouted at the end of the day when he spotted Nina walking over to them as they stood by the gate of the school.

"Gokudera, don't be so rude!" Tsuna said blushing in embarrassment. "It's ok if she walks home with us, she lives next door."

Gokudera looked down guiltily for being scolded at by Tsuna. "Sorry, Juudaime." He then took a deep breath and looked over to Nina, thought not really looking at her, "Hey Nina, did you want to walk home with us?" he forced himself to say.

"No, I was actually going to go for a walk around to see what all is around here." Nina said as she continued to walk past them.

"You scared her away Gokudera." Yamamoto said laughing while Gokudera looked down at the ground slightly ashamed at himself.

Nina didn't pay any attention to them and just continued to walk. She didn't have any destination. She just felt that walking would help to clear her mind, or rather to help her organize her thoughts. Before Hibari had kicked her out of the library and before the strange boy Mukuro had appeared she had been able to learn the basic structure of the Mafia.

The Mafia was simply a generalization for all gangs, which were called families, in Italy. Each family has its own unique setup within, though all had the basic head of the family and other ranks. Every family was also separate from the rest, though they formed allegiances and had other enemies. Each also had its own area that it ran.

Nina had also been able to learn some of the heads of these families, though she could only place a face to the person it belonged to, she was unable to learn all of their names and family connections. But she didn't need to know that. She knew all she needed to in order to start formulating a plan of action.

Nina figured that for her to bring down the entire Mafia she'd have to take down some heads of families while making it look as if another family did it. Ally or enemy of the family didn't matter, once she was able to put suspicion into the minds of the rest of the family and the other families, she'd be able to simply sit and watch as they tore themselves apart.

She grinned to herself as she thought this, but then let it drop as she realized that it would be extremely difficult to do any of this. She might not be able to do it alone, but at least she knew that if worse came to worse she could get her uncle to help her. He would know how and would be fully committed to her plan.

As Nina walked down the sparsely populated street she noticed Hibari watching her from across the street. He was leaning up against a building and staring directly at her with what almost looked like a smirk on his face.

Nina decided to just ignore him and looked away. She continued walking as though he had never been there. She walked a few more blocks then turned thinking that at least she wouldn't have to worry about him today.

But when she turned around the corner she found that he was there waiting for her and there were no other people around. Nina felt as if she were in a bad horror film.

"Good evening Hibari-senpai" Nina said deciding that acting polite would be the best option for her.

Hibari didn't return the greeting, nor did he speak at all. He swiftly grabbed his tonfa and attacked Nina with one quick blow that threw her up against one of the buildings on the side of the street. He then held his one tonfa at her neck, keeping her from being able to move.

"I'm watching you." HIbari said threateningly.

"I can see that." Nina said gritting her teeth together.

"I don't trust you. I don't want you messing around my school."

"I haven't done anything. So what makes you think I'm up to no good?" Nina asked frustrated at his irrational explanation. She knew that she wasn't someone to trust, she had plans but nothing dealing with him or his stupid school.

"I can sense it. And if you do, do anything, I promise to bite you to death." HIbari said giving a grin full of evil. He pushed Nina harder against the wall before he let her go to get his point across. He then left without looking back at her.

Nina pushed herself off of the wall and rubbed her neck. She glared at Hibari as he walked away until he turned a corner and was no longer able to be glared at. She then picked up her bag which had flown out of her hands when he attacked her. She continued to walk on.

Nina soon came to a small park that had a pond and different walk ways lined with trees and some benches every so often. There was a playground at one end of the park and a snack vendor not to far from that. All in all it was a quaint little park that would be a great place to relax.

Nina walked down one of the paths to a bench where she sat down. She noticed that the bench was underneath a cherry tree which was just beginning to blossom. She leaned back and let out a deep sigh. There was too much stuff going through her mind to handle all at once.

She needed to get her revenge. She didn't know if she should go for the whole Mafia, it'd be so much work and effort. She should just kill Luca. Maybe she should forget about him and enjoy the friends she seemed to have made here. She shouldn't let these friendships get any further. She wanted to punch Hibari. She really wanted to hit Luca with Hibari. She wanted to not have to think at all.

Lost in her thoughts, she again failed to notice Mukuro appear next to her for the second time that day. She only noticed him when he laughed his weird laugh at her. She sat up in surprise and looked at him again with large eyes.

"You seem to always have that reaction to me. Am I that surprising to you?" Mukuro asked her smiling, though it she wouldn't compare it to being as friendly as Yamamoto's.

"You always seem to appear out of nowhere when I'm not looking." Nina told him truthfully. "Where did you disappear to earlier? All of the sudden you were gone." Nina asked wondering if he would tell her or continue to remain aloof.

"Ah, yes, it seems that I left you alone to face the wrath of Hibari." He answered her smiling and ignoring her question.

"How'd you know about that?" Nina asked in shock but was interrupted before she could finish.

"And for that I am sorry." Mukuro said as if she had never spoken. "I was wondering if you had any ideas about how you were going to achieve your goal. I don't really care, but I'd rather not see you do something stupid that would have been a waste of time." He said, his friendly disposition suddenly turning cold.

Nina unconsciously leaned away from him. What did he care if she was able to bring about an end to the Mafia? How did he even know what it was that she wanted to do? She couldn't figure him out at all. If he wanted to help her he should just say so, it not then he shouldn't be bothering with her.

Nina didn't respond to him but only looked at him full of suspicion. She didn't know if she could trust him, and therefore didn't want to tell him what she had thought of. The background sounds of the park and the children playing seemed to be the only noise.

Mukuro's personality suddenly shifted when he noticed the red mark on Nina's neck from Hibari's tonfa. He seemed to be thinking something to himself when he suddenly turned and plucked a small branch off the cherry tree.

"Here is a little ward against evil." He said as he blew on it and then gave it to Nina.

Nina gently held it in her had and looked at it closely. The buds that had been slowly beginning to bloom seemed to fully bloom before her eyes as she twirled it between her fingers. She stared at it in awe forgetting about the battle within her on whether Mukuro was someone to trust or not.

"Well it's not exactly a ward against evil, but it will keep you safe from Hibari next time he attacks you. So make sure you carry it with you." Mukuro said laughing his strange laugh as he said this. He then stood up. "I think it is time for me to go. Goodbye."

Nina looked up at him. She didn't know what to say or do or what to think of him. She wanted to think him an enemy, but he showed no signs of being one. She wanted to think he would help her, though she couldn't bring herself to trust anyone.

"Thank you." She finally said lifting the little cherry tree branch to show what she was referring to.

"Make sure you don't to anything rash and unreasonable. I do genuinely want to see you succeed." Mukuro said as he walked off, raising his hand in a wave goodbye.

Nina played with the little flower a bit longer before she decided it was probably time to go home. And this time she knew she wouldn't have to worry about Hibari for at least a few days if what Mukuro said was correct. And for some unknown reason she felt that he was right.

**Kufufu. Mukuro shows up again. Thank you to all who have been keeping up with this story and who have written to show your support or give advice. Again I say, ****GO VOTE!**** There is currently a tie for first place. I'm thinking after another chapter or two the voting will be done, maybe, so go vote now. Alright that is all, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.**


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days seemed to pass by in the same mundane manner. Nina would go to school, spend free periods and lunch in the library researching, then go home, do homework and research some more. At home she continued to research on the laptop that she had shipped over from her Uncle. She also tried to spend time with her host family, though it wasn't much. But she had told them the research paper excuse as well.

Nina did not have any more confrontations with Hibari since her walk around town, though he did keep his word about watching her. He was everywhere it seemed, always at a distance watching her. When she walked to school with Tsuna one day, he noticed Hibari's odd antics and told her she should perhaps try to do something that would make Hibari happy, though Tsuna didn't give an example.

Nina smiled and told him not to worry about it. She said Hibari was only making sure she didn't let her confusion with the Japanese customs get her into a pickle. Tsuna only looked at her skeptically, not fully buying what she told him, or not understanding her use of idioms. He then told her that he was there if she needed to tell him something.

Nina smiled and said thanks, though inside she thought how she'd never be able to tell him. He would never understand what was happening, let alone the confusing system of the mafia, which is what she needed someone to completely know and explain to her.

Near the end of the week Yamamoto, Tsuna, and Kyoko managed to convince Nina to eat lunch with them instead of research. They told her that staring at a computer for too long would hurt her eyes and that she needed fresh air.

"Come on Nina, you're acting as if the Godfather is going to hunt you down if you don't finish your paper ASAP." Yamamoto joked pulling on her arm.

"And what if he was going to hunt me down?" Nina asked, trying to think of a way to get them to let her go.

"Then Tsuna and I would protect you. Right, Tsuna?"

"Ha, ha, I'm not sure I'll be much protection, but I'm sure you'd be safe with our group of friends." Tsuna said laughing, pulling on her other arm.

"Even Gokudera would help!" Yamamoto said, successfully pulling Nina to her feet.

"I would not!" Gokudera yelled sulking by the door, wishing they'd leave her behind so they could get to the rooftop faster.

"He acts mean but he's really a nice guy deep down." Tsuna whispered to Nina.

"Nina, please eat lunch with us today. It would make me really happy." Kyoko asked stepping in front of Nina. She had been watching as the two boys tried to pull her out of her chair and up to the roof.

"But—," Nina tried to protest but when she saw the puppy-dog look that Kyoko was giving her she couldn't say no. "Alright, I'll eat lunch with you today, but I really need to finish that paper."

And with that they all went up to the roof. Nina actually forgot all about her "research" and enjoyed herself immensely. It felt good for her to not have Hibari staring at her back as she worked on the computer or watch her walk back to the classroom.

Nina unconsciously touched the little cherry blossoms that she had received from Mukuro when she thought of Hibari. She luckily didn't need to use them against Hibari, though she tied them onto some string in a form of a necklace to keep them close by at all times. Just in case.

"What a pretty necklace!" Kyoko exclaimed when she noticed Nina playing with it. "Did you make that?"

"Um, thank you. Well I sort of made it. I tied the string to the flowers. But I didn't make the flowers." Nina said smiling. Kyoko laughed.

"Oh, wow! Would you show me how to do that?"

"Yeah sure, it's really easy." Nina replied. "Do you want to come over to my house after school?"

"I can't today. How about Saturday? We don't have any classes. We could spend the day together, wouldn't that be fun?" Kyoko said excitedly, her enthusiasm flowing into the other girl.

"That sounds like lots of fun. Would Hana also want to come?" Nina asked remembering Kyoko's good friend.

"I'm not sure, I'll ask her when I see her later. Is it alright if I bring along someone else? You don't know her, but she's a fun girl. I'm sure you'll like her."

"Yeah, ok, the more the merrier. You know where I live, so how about we meet around noon?"

"Sounds like fun." Kyoko said as the bell rang and they went back to class. Nina didn't think about her goal of destroying at all for the rest of the day and even the rest of the week. She didn't even look at her laptop.

When Saturday came she was excited to see Kyoko and her friend, Haru who went to the all girls school in town. Mrs. Akamida was also happy to see Nina taking some time away from her paper to hang out with some friends.

"So you're an exchange student at Namimore Middle School in the same class as Tsuna, and on top of that you live next to him? That must be soo awesome!" Haru said as she tried to tie her flower to the string. They were sitting outside in the yard where they were able to find flowers in the garden.

"Mm-hm," Nina nodded as she helped Kyoko tie her flower. "Everyone's so nice. I'm glad to be friends with them."

"Everyone's so much fun, but Tsuna is amazing! He's a really nice guy. He saved me once even though I hadn't been very friendly to him. And now I'm going to marry him." Haru told Nina about the time she almost drowned.

"Yeah, he's a lot nicer than the last guy I knew." Nina said without thinking.

"Really? What happened?" Kyoko asked. Nina's face dropped as she realized her mistake.

"Oh, it's nothing." Nina said smiling and waving her hands.

"Nina, we're friends now, you can tell us." Haru responded, moving closer to Nina, as did Kyoko.

"Yea, we promise not to tell anyone." Kyoko said.

Nina looked to the side, trying to decide whether or not to tell them. She didn't want to disappoint them, but she didn't want to talk about what had happened. She figured she could edit the real story so that they wouldn't have to know what truly happened to her. Nina let out a deep sigh.

"Well, you see, I was dating this guy, who I thought was the one. He seemed so perfect. I fell for him the first time I saw him. I was so happy when he asked me out. I loved him, and I thought he loved me. But it turns out he didn't." Nina said, cutting the story short.

"What happened? You can't leave it there." Haru said.

"What did he do? I can tell something happened." Kyoko said.

"Well, he, um, he cheated on me. And he not only cheated on me but he didn't eat the dinner I had made for us." Nina said angrily remembering the supper she had prepared for them.

"How dare he? Not eat a dinner you made him then go and cheat on you!" Haru yelled. She was standing on her feet with her arm held in a fist. Her reaction made Nina laugh. It was so sudden and unexpected that she couldn't help herself.

"The jerk! How dare he treat a woman like that! It's extremely wrong!" Ryohei said appearing over the fence.

"Brother, what are you doing here?" Kyoko asked.

"I was running around when I heard you girls talking. Don't worry Nina, I'll beat him up to the extreme if I ever see the guy! Any friend of my sister's is like a sister to me, and I won't let such things like that be done to my sister! For now I'll continue to run and see if I can find him!" Ryohei exclaimed disappearing as fast as he appeared.

Nina looked at the direction of where he had been in shock and surprise. She didn't know if this was a good thing or bad. He now knew her story, though it was heavily edited. She didn't know whether or not he'd tell the others. She hoped that he wouldn't. She knew that it was a bad idea to tell her story, she should have just persisted that it was nothing.

"Don't worry Nina, I don't think he knows what he's talking about. You don't have to worry, though I do wish he wouldn't fight." Kyoko said.

Nina looked at Kyoko and took a calming breath as she put on a smile, "Oh, that's good. I wouldn't want him to hurt himself for me."

The girls then switched topics and continued to enjoy their day, though Nina felt a dark shadow pulling at the back of her mind. She ignored the feeling and tried not to be a downer as they went to get cake at the bakery.

**OK, so this took a bit longer to get out than the last few. Well there is still a tie for first in the poll, and this chapter was kind of pointless. It was more of a way to get Haru into the story. Don't worry next chapter is sure to be a lot more interesting. Or at least that's what I'm planning. Thanks for reading, and oh yeah, ****GO VOTE!**


	8. Chapter 8

"There's something fishy about that story." Reborn said aloud as he thought over what he over heard Nina telling Kyoko and Haru. Her story sounded familiar in a way. It reminded him of something he had heard earlier that month happening in Italy.

"I'll have to definitely look into this." He said hopping down from wall around the Sawada residence.

"Nina, how are you?" Tsuna asked surprised to see Nina walking home.

"Tsuna, it's nice to see you. I was just out with Kyoko and Haru. They're so fun, though I can't eat nearly as much cake as they can. How are you?" Nina replied with a smile. Tsuna couldn't help but noticed how nice she looked when she smiled. He also couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when she smiled.

"I'm good. I was just at Yamamoto's. Are you going home now?"

"Uh-huh. Unless you would like to hang out with me." Nina offered smiling. She couldn't help herself. She had had so much fun that day with the two girls that she completely forgot that she had promised herself not to make any friends or get close to anyone. She was too happy to think about anything from her past.

"Uh, sure?" Tsuna asked more than he replied as he scratched his head and blushed looking away from Nina at the ground. "Do you want to come over to my house? Or do you prefer staying at yours?" he asked rushing the last part.

"Either it fine. I'm sure you have more things to do at your house than I do." Nina said laughing at how he was acting. He seemed so different from the person Haru was telling her about. She found it rather funny that he could be so cool but then so clueless.

"A-alright!" He said slightly jumping up. Her laugh made him feel stronger. It wasn't the same way as most of the kids at school laughed at him. Hers was friendlier and inviting. Tsuna found that her laugh didn't hurt and that he almost enjoyed it. He had a fleeting thought that he wanted to make her laugh like that more often.

Once they arrived at Tsuna's house chaos seemed to ensue. Lambo and I-pin were running around and wouldn't leave Nina alone much to Tsuna's dismay. Then Tsuna's mom decided to show Nina pictures of Tsuna when he was a baby and take more pictures of Tsuna and Nina, though only a few came out good due to Lambo making funny faces.

Tsuna was happy though seeing Nina laugh and enjoy herself, even if she was laughing at embarrassing pictures of his younger self. But he noticed that Reborn was missing, which was strange. He didn't have much time to think about that though, since he had to catch Lambo who was running around wearing Tsuna's underwear over his face.

The next day Nina woke up feeling better than ever. She spent the morning shopping with her host mother at the market in town. Though when she was there she saw a group of foreign men in suits standing around a café scaring off most of the people who walked by. Nina felt her heart speed up as she watched them.

Her heart almost stopped when she caught a glance of a man in the middle of them with blonde hair. He looked like one of the mafia bosses she had researched. She didn't know much about the man except his name was Dino and that he was the boss of one of the strongest families.

He wasn't connected with Luca she was sure of, but she felt that she wasn't safe. She knew it was absurd to think, but she couldn't stop herself from thinking that He would send this man to hunt her down. Maybe she was just being overly paranoid, but then again she knew now more than ever that there wasn't such a thing as worrying too much.

Nina managed to pull herself together before her host mother realized something was wrong, acting like everything was fine, even though she still felt uncomfortable. She was greatly relieved when they left to go home.

When she got home she rushed upstairs to her room to do a quick search on Dino with the special sites her Uncle had given her. She learned much about him, but found nothing to link him to Luca, which she felt was both a good thing and yet a bad thing. It was good since it meant Luca wasn't after her or couldn't find her. Yet it also meant that the mafia was in Japan for some reason, and not only Japan but the small city she happened to be in.

She wanted to know what reason they could have for being here. It bugged her to no end that they would be in the same city, let alone country as her. She wanted to get away from them, but couldn't. She thought about calling her Uncle and asking him, but decided not too worry him or to pester him any more than she had.

Eventually Nina gave up thinking about it frustrated in her lack of knowledge. She decided to clear her mind by going on a walk around the neighborhood. The clear air would be good for calming her down.

"Oh, hello Nina! What are you doing?" Mrs. Sawada asked Nina as she walked out of her house.

"Hello, I'm just going for a walk. Is Tsuna home?"

"Yes he is, one moment." Mrs. Sawada told her and went into the house. "Tsuna! Nina's outside and she wants to see you!"

Distinctly from within the house Nina could hear Tsuna holler back a 'what' and come crashing down the stairs. Nina laughed as he appeared outside out of breath and discombobulated.

"Nina! How are you?" he asked panting for breath as he stood hunched over.

"I'm good. Would you like to go on a walk with me?" Nina answered smiling with her head to the side.

"Yeah! I'd love to." Tsuna said his eyes lighting up with joy. "Mom! I'm going I'll be back later." He shouted to his mother who told him to be careful.

As the two walked they talked about many different things. Nina found she enjoyed being with Tsuna while he felt she was opening up more to him than the last time they walked together. This fact secretly made him feel really happy. He was enjoying his time with Nina more than he ever thought he would.

"I had a great time walking with you." Nina said when they came back the house.

"Me too. I'm glad I got to know you Nina, I hope we can spend more time together. I really like you." Tsuna said without thinking. Though he realized what he said immediately and began to blush madly.

"Me too." Nina said giggling and she turned to walk back to her house leaving Tsuna to flail around in embarrassment.

"Tsuna, good you're back. You're friend Dino's upstairs in your room waiting for you." Mrs. Sawada told her son when he walked inside.

"Dino? What's he doing here?" Tsuna asked himself as he went upstairs.

Nina in the meantime had went upstairs to her room and was laying on her bed. She felt very happy for some reason that she could not explain. She felt that being with Tsuna made all of her problems just disappear. She could feel herself grinning like a silly little girl.

She glanced over to her laptop which she had open and on from earlier and noticed that she had a message from her Uncle. Its subject was "M. update".

"Sheesh, is he tracking my links or something. I wouldn't put it past him." Nina muttered to herself as she got up and opened the message.

/_Nina,_

_It seems that the mafia may have infiltrated the city which you are currently studying in. My sources inform me that the Cavallone family boss has come to Namimore to meet with the Vongola family's next boss. I'm not sure what they are to discuss but given you're new found interest in the Mafia I thought I should warn you to becareful._

_Also it seems that the next boss of the Vongola happens to live near to you. He is a boy the same age as you named Tsunayoshi Sawada. I advise you avoid him at all costs. He may not seem strong but he wields an amazing power. _

_I wish you the best of luck in whatever you are planning. Remember I am here if you should ever need any help. _

_Uncle/_

Nina felt as if the world had stopped moving. She wasn't sure if she was breathing anymore. She couldn't have read that right. And yet she was sure she did after the third time re-reading it.

She felt her world falling apart. She fell down onto her knees and wanted to cry. How could this happen to her again? Was she cursed to be drawn to people in the mafia? She had finally felt that her world was going to get better. Everything was starting to look up. She had been successfully managing to forget about Luca and the Mafia. Why did things have to change so suddenly?

The one person that could make her forget about her problems now happened to be one of the greatest sources of them. Nina felt defeated.

**Yay! I've successfully managed to make myself write again! It was so hard once summer started and I wasn't getting on the computer as often. Well here is Chapter 8. Thanks to everyone who is still keeping up with this story and to all those who are new. The Voting is officially over and we have our winner. I hope you'll continue to enjoy this story and I do plan on finishing it eventually, soon, hopefully before summer ends. **


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